The Animal Welfare Act

The Animal Welfare Act came into effect in April 2007. The
Kennel Club considers that the Act has provided much greater
protection for animals by introducing a new welfare offence against
neglect, thereby legally obliging owners to care for their pets
properly.

The Animal Welfare Act does apply to Wales but the Welsh
Government also has powers to introduce its own secondary
legislation, for example the Animal Welfare (Electric Collars)
(Wales) Regulations 2010. The legislation does not apply to
Scotland or Northern Ireland. However, the Scottish Executive
passed the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act and Northern
Ireland's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development passed
the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland), which both follow
many of the same principles.

The Kennel Club supports the duty of care clause within the Act
and believes it should not affect responsible dog owners. Rather it
makes it a legal requirement for all owners and keepers of pets to
provide for the basic needs of their animals.

These include:

- a proper diet (including water)

- somewhere suitable to live

- any need to be housed with, or apart from, other animals
as appropriate

- allowing animals to express normal behaviour

- protection from, and treatment of, illness and
injury

The Act banned docking, with an exemption for working dogs used
for their traditional job of work, and placed requirements upon
owners who wish to dock these breeds. The showing of docked dogs
was also banned under the Act, which the Kennel Club strongly
opposed. For more information on docking read the 'Docking' issue
statement.